Ottawa bus rail emergency 211 ottawa sep 2013

Activity Report OC Transpo and Via Rail Crash Wednesday September 18th 2013

Prepared by 211 Eastern Region/ Community Information Centre of Ottawa December 2013

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BACKGROUNDER 211 Services Every Day 211 is an easy-to-remember three digit telephone number now available to all residents of Ontario, and is expanding across Canada and the United States. 211 is a helpline that simplifies finding support and community services for all Ontarians. The 211 service helps people find basic needs such as food, housing and emergency financial assistance. 211 connects those with specific needs to agencies who can help them cope with health issues, seniors services, employment, settlement and an array of other human needs. 211 also supports professionals in the human services field and volunteers at those agencies who are in need of information about community services for their clients.

When you dial 211, you can count on live-answer, 24/7 – 365 days a year, by a highly trained Information & Referral Specialist who will listen and help. 211 offers multilingual service in up to 150 languages as well as service for the hearing-impaired. 211 is also is available online at www.211Ontario.ca.

Seven regional service partners collaborate to provide the 211 service to all Ontario communities. 211 Eastern Region offers multi-lingual 211 service for all of the extended Eastern Ontario region.

211 Services During Emergencies In addition, 211 service providers have demonstrated that in emergency situations, 211 can directly support members of the public, as well as assist emergency responders, municipalities and other non-government organizations at the time of a crisis as well as during the recovery phase following an emergency.

The Event (Reported by CTV and the Canadian Press) On Wednesday September 18th, shortly before 9 a.m., an OC Transpo bus collided with VIA Train 51, which came from Montreal and was heading west to Toronto, at a rail crossing near Woodroffe Avenue and Fallowfield Road in Ottawa.

The OC Transpo Route 76 bus was heading for downtown Ottawa Wednesday morning, travelling north along the Transitway, the dedicated road for the city's buses. Several witnesses said the bus failed to stop at a rail crossing moments before the collision.

The front end of the bus was sheared off in the collision, and five people were pronounced dead at the scene, including the driver. One bus passenger died later in hospital from injuries.

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More than 31 additional people, 10 of whom were in critical condition were taken to several area hospitals. Three people with injuries from the crash checked into hospitals themselves. Most injuries were limb or abdominal in nature.

Ottawa Fire arrived quickly at the scene. Due to the nature of the incident, Ottawa Police took over as Incident Command.

Shortly after the incident, the City of Ottawa set up the nearby Nepean Sportsplex as a public reception and reunification centre for families. Ottawa Police utilized a different location to which families of victims and the passengers who had not been critically injured were directed.

The community reacted rapidly and messages of support appeared on social media networks almost immediately. There were a lot of live messages occurring from the scene and the media was also quick to report on the incident and to post images on the web.

Rumors began spreading about the identity of the driver and of the injured. Speculations about the cause of the accident rapidly spread as well.

The City of Ottawa and the Chiefs of Emergency services held regular media briefings to address the public shock, grief and to discourage rumours.

The Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region utilized social media to remind the public that they are there to support people who need to talk about what they have witnessed and to help handle the shock.

211 Eastern Region also posted on social media channels to dial 211 for information regarding community supports to help people in times of emergencies and disasters.

The City of Ottawa directed anyone with any questions to call 311. As per the City of Ottawa Emergency Plan, the City also rolled out the Psycho Social with links on Ottawa.ca which provided links to external support services. 211 was included as part of this communication.

A first vigil was held at the scene of the accident the night it had occurred. There have been additional vigils since then as the identities of the victims were disclosed. Community outpouring of sympathy has been ongoing since the day of the incident, as funerals are held and as information became available to the public.

Various groups have reached out since the incident to help people cope with loss and stress following this type of incident.

The Role of 211 In times of emergencies and disasters, 211 is a three digit telephone number which offers free, confidential and multilingual information regarding community, social and health services available to support those in need.

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Since 2012, 211 has been working closely with emergency management officials to determine how best to support their efforts following an emergency. 211 has been in communication with emergency management offices across Ontario to work out internal protocols and methods of communications to be utilized at the time of such an event.

Municipalities will require unique agreements based on the needs and size of the municipality.

211 is a dependable resource that is able to support the plans and processes that emergency responders and emergency management officials have in place. The 211 service works closely and collaboratively with the local emergency management team, usually through public information officer, to support the provision of accurate information and appropriate referrals for the public at the onset of an incident and throughout the recovery period.

In Ottawa, 311 is utilized as the first point of access for public inquiries. 211 supports the work at 311 through internal protocols. It is our shared goal to have clear public messages and to strategically position the best numbers to call to enhance the caller experience and to support the dissemination of authoritative public information.

Internal Response Immediately after receiving the news of the OC Transpo bus collision with the VIA train, staff at 211 Eastern Region prepared to conduct external outreach to members of the public in need of information and referrals. .

Internally the Service Manager and Data Manager activated the emergency response procedures which included implementing our Business Continuity Plan and Emergency Response Plan.

The Executive Director contacted the Emergency Management Office at the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Police to offer the assistance of 211 to support their work and to request information and updates so that accurate information could be provided to the public who called 211.

In their media release the City of Ottawa determined the public access point to be 311 and later directed the public to call 211 as part of an external resources communication.

Committed to the principle that the source of definitive information should be emergency responders, 211 did not engage directly with the media. Public outreach about the kind of information that 211 could provide was undertaken through social media on Facebook and Twitter.

The 211 service remained actively engaged throughout the emergency with City officials and worked through internal protocols. Over the course of the few days following the incident, there was a considerable number of contacts made through 211, 311, the Emergency Management Office, Ottawa Police, Victim Support Unit and Ottawa Public Health.

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Relationships with 311 As calls increased at 311, 311 staff contacted the 211 office to inquire about the kind of calls they could redirect to 211. The 311 and 211 staff teams remained connected through the height of the response and checked in regularly to determine the best way to handle certain types of request. Clients Services at OC Transpo also became engaged as issues surrounding claims and lawsuits began to unfold.

Emergency Management Office After the initial outreach, staff at 211 periodically checked in with the emergency management office. The emergency office handled any issues related to internal communications and public messaging. A follow-up meeting to revisit the roles of 211 and 311 to develop communications protocols has been held.

Ottawa Police and Victim Support Unit Ottawa Police was connected to 211 from the outset of the event and the Victim Support Unit made referrals internally to 211. For this incident, the Ottawa Police did not include 211 as part of their media release.

Carleton University – Counseling Supports Following the public identification of the victims of the crash, Carleton University Counseling Services were rapidly stretched to their full capacity due to two of the victims being students from the University. Carleton University Counseling Services arranged an informal gathering and wanted counseling supports on hand. With insufficient internal resources to handle the demand, they contacted the Emergency Management Office of the City of Ottawa, which directed them to 211 to help them recruit emergency, voluntary counselors.

211 was able to arrange additional support for the gathering through volunteer counselors from the Bereaved Families of Eastern Ontario. The 211 service also arranged for the Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region to be present at the gathering for public awareness and made a general call out to community based counseling services to offer supports as they were able.

Caller Needs and Trends

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Between September 18th and September 25th, 211 Eastern Region experienced a 1.5% increase in our overall call volume during regular business hours and a 0.5% increase during after hour services. The disaster client tracker was activated to capture relevant information about the type of calls received in relation to the incident. 56% of calls were from women and 44% from men. The following table illustrates caller needs. * Please note that a caller may be requesting more than one referral.

Where was the client calling from Home Work Unknown Cell phone

62.5% 19% 12.5% 6%

Clients Postal Code Client in distress: Didn’t ask/couldn’t provide information K2J K0G K1V

50% 38% 6% 6%

Type of referrals provided Distress Centre of Ottawa Community Services City of Ottawa Hospitals Walk-in Clinics Government Services

81% 38% 38% 19% 19% 6%

Key Learning The experience at 211 Eastern Region in response to this tragic incident demonstrated a good level of internal preparedness. This incident was the first time since the launch of 211 in Ottawa in 2008 that 211 was actively recognized and engaged in the response from the City of Ottawa’s Emergency Management Office and the Ottawa Police. This is most notably due to the development of the role of 211 in emergency response and recovery in Ontario.

211 Eastern Region has been developing adequate relationships and processes in place to become effective and proactive in support of the emergency management office and to the general public when an incident occurs. Internal practices worked very well; the 211 team was prepared for the types of calls that were received and contacts with Emergency management providers supported utilizing 211 as the source of information on community and social services.

Learning from this incident includes continuing to build the communication between 211 and the City of Ottawa, Ottawa Police and other communities in Eastern Ontario. Achieving this would allow callers to receive direct access to supports, reduce wait times and reduce the number of transfers and/or calls required by the public when calls are of a community, social, or health related nature.

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Finally our final learning is in the area of social media, where further work is needed on 211’s role as the community connector for community and social supports. Lessons can be learned from organizations such as the Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region, which utilizes this communication channel effectively.

211 Eastern Region is committed to furthering the role of 211 in emergency response and recovery and looks forward to continuing to build relationships and process with the appropriate group in order to further define its role.

APPENDIX: IN ONTARIO: 211 SERVICE – EVERYDAY AND DURING INCIDENT RESPONSE AND RECOVERY Preamble The 211 service is standards driven. Organizations providing 211 services are accredited by the Alliance of Information and Referral Systems (AIRS). The goal is for 211 to be the first and best place for everyone in Ontario to find, connect to and communicate with human services by phone and online. In the event of an incident, 211 service is available as a public information line and to complement the community’s existing capacity.

Public Information 211 service organizations provide and receive information 211 is an easy to remember phone number for live answer, multilingual information and referral about community, health and social services 24/7/365. (If 211 regional provider is requested to extend hours of service there may be associated costs) The assessment and referrals provided to residents and service providers is confidential, and can help people find services they didn’t know existed or are more appropriate for their circumstance Includes TTY and email channels Monitors news and social media and posts facts or notices to call 211 or visit specified websites for information and rumour control Develops and retains relationships with municipal and other social services including those that respond to incidents including local branches of Red Cross, Victim Services, Salvation Army, St John Ambulance and the Humane Society/SPCA to complement their services Able to establish a public access point in reception and/or evacuation centres to provide in-person information and/or referrals to both residents and service providers. (May have associated costs)

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Online Inventories 211 service providers collectively maintain a comprehensive, current database of 56,000 human services agencies and programs 211 providers maintain local inventories of disaster services and information that is continually updated throughout the recovery period after an incident Able to deploy local information websites for public to access in real-time, for current information about post incident services including shelters, food and meals, schools, halls, pharmacies, banks and cash machines, laundromats etc Collects pre-determined or customized details about people who want to volunteer, including their skills and equipment, following an incident making the information available in real-time to designated contacts or organizations utilizing volunteers. Works with volunteer centres where they exist to provide volunteer brokerage services when directed Collects pre-determined or customized details about goods and services donated by individuals, governments, businesses or organizations and makes information available in real-time to designated contacts or provides goods and services brokerage when directed Can support case management for vulnerable population fan out procedures working with agencies such as Public Health, Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) and/or Mental Health Services to support the creation of an inventory of people facing mobility barriers, are isolated or need key health services such as dialysis

Maintains up-to-date lists of where and how cash donations can be made. (May have associated costs)

Tracking Needs Using predetermined or customized collection details, 211 providers monitor calls, TTY, social media and email contacts to track changing service needs, unmet needs, service gaps and trends.

211 providers can produce real-time and/or after-action reports with aggregated data to support information useful to municipalities and other levels of government.

For more information please contact: Marie-AndrÊe Carrière, Executive Director 211 Eastern Region/Community Information Centre of Ottawa 613-683-5400 ext 5503 or ma.carriere@cominfo-ottawa.org

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